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Floods, Landslides Leave 6 Missing in Eastern Indonesia

AP

JAKARTA: Rain-triggered floods and landslides left six villagers missing in eastern Indonesia, an official said Monday.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said two days of rain caused the damage Sunday in a remote mountainous district of West Papua province.

He said land transportation between the area and the provincial capital, Manokwari, was largely cut, isolating about 1,000 families.

A rescue team with food supplies was sent to help search for the villagers, Sutopo said, adding that heavy equipment was still needed to clear roads and remove wreckage.

The region on the western end of New Guinea is about 3,100 kilometers (1,920 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta.

Seasonal rains often cause landslides and flooding in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood-prone plains close to rivers.

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